Educational card.



No. 705,579. Patented July 29, 1902.

J. GIBSON.

EDUCATIONAL CARD.

(Application mm Juno 8, 1901.) (No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J OSIAH GIBSON, OF PARKBIDGE, ILLINOIS.

EDUCATIONAL CARD.

SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters Patent No. 705,579, dated July 29,1902.

Apolication filed June 3,1901. $erial No. 62,914:- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern." 7

Be it known that I, J OSIAHG IBSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Parkridge, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Educational Cards, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a card or set of cards whichwill facilitate the teaching and learning of the simpler mathematicalcombinations; and it is particularly my object to achieve this result bydevising a card or set of cards which upon one face shall present orsuggest the various primary mathematical problems possible arising fromvarious combinations of two sets of figures, especially the combinationsof single numbers and the combinations of numbers containing two figureswith single figures, while the opposite face of the card shall indicateeach such problem in full with the correct answer or key thereto. Theseand ,such other objects as may hereinafter appear are attained by thedevices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figures 1and 3 show the obverse sides of two of the cards invented by me; andFigs. 2 and 4: show the reverse sides of Figs. 1 and 3, respectively.

With my improved cards I present or suggest to the pupil certainmathematical problems or combinations by printing, say, two numbersconspicuously on one side of a card. If, for instance, as shown in Fig.1, I show the figures 15 and 3 upon one side of a card, they suggest tothe pupil the four problems in addition, subtraction, multiplication,and division which are possible by the combination of these two figures.If the pupil is using the card merely as an aid to study, the face ofthe card presenting or suggesting these problems does not give any keyto the proper answer" thereto and thepupil is left to his memory and ownresources to study out these various combinations {but having arrived atan answer or being unable to arriveat an answer he finds on the reverseside, as shown, for instance, in Fig. 2, afull key to all four of thepossible problems. If, however, the card is being'used in such a mannerthat the card is held by a teacher with the obverse or problem side infull sight of the class, so that the pupils have clearly before them thenumbers which are to be combined, as the teacher calls upon the classfor answers to the difierent combinations of these two figures thereverse or key side to the card, while hidden from the class, is in fullview of the teacher, so that the correct answers are presented to theteacher without the necessity of any effort or thought on the part ofthe teacher. Although the cards illustrated in the drawings present onlythe simplest problems, it is obvious that these cards can be used in thesame manner to present problems of sufficient complexity to make itquite desirable that the teacher shall have the correct answers beforeher, so that it will not be necessary for her to give any time orthought to verifying the answers. Although such simple problems by wayof multiplication are generally taught to school childrenqby teachingthe multiplication-table, so that the answers to these questions inmultiplication become familiar to the pupil without stopping to figureout the answer in each case, the combinations of thesame figures by wayof division, addition, and subtraction are not generally so learned, andit is one purpose of these cards to so present all of the simpler formsof mathematical combinations of such numbers that thepupil will learn tobe as familiar with the combinations of division, addition, andsubtraction as with those of multiplication.

Of course the particular order in which the figures andanswers arearranged is immaterial so long as the problems shall be suggested by thefigures on one side of the card and the answers 1 to the difierentproblems or combinations of these same figures shall be set forth uponthe opposite side of the card.

As shown, the opposite faces of the card bear the same combination ofnumbers, one side having the numbers alone, the other having them.arranged in connection withtheir several combinations and the, signsused to indicate the method by which the results are obtained. This isof advantage not only in the teaching of the various combinations, butalso as to the signs used to indicate the method by which the result isobtained. Furthermore,- the presence of the numbers in question on theback of the card aids in facilitating the work,in that there is norequirement of a constant turning of the card to ascertain which numbersare being used. It should also be added that by this means each cardbears on its face such data as will enable the student to study thecombinations without a requirement of turning the card, thus associatingin his mind the several combinations, and by then turning the card he isable to himself ascertain if he has correctly learned the combinationsby testing his memory, having nothing but the numbers to guide him.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. A device forteaching mathematics, comprising a card bearing on oneface numbers suggestive of certain mathematical combina- JOSIAH GIBSON.

Witnesses:

O. R. BARNETT, M. E. SHIELDS.

